Method for displaying transmission status of mms (multimedia messaging service) message and telecommunication terminal using the method

ABSTRACT

A method for displaying transmission status of a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message and a telecommunication terminal using the method, including displaying the currently transmitting content and transmission progress of the MMS message while the telecommunication terminal transmits the MMS message. A user can check the content of the MMS message being currently transmitted together with the transmission progress of the MMS message. The user also can cancel the transmission of the erroneous MMS message before completing the transmission of the MMS message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2008-0042843, filed on May 8, 2008, which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for displaying transmissionstatus of a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message and atelecommunication terminal using the method, and more particularly, to amethod in which the content of a portion of the MMS message currentlybeing transmitted from a telecommunication terminal is displayed so thata user can check the transmission status of the MMS message, and atelecommunication terminal using the method.

2. Discussion of the Background

In general, when a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message istransmitted using a telecommunication terminal, a media file, includingmedia such as images, video, or text, can be attached to the MMS messageto transmit with the MMS message.

While transmitting an MMS message, however, a user of thetelecommunication terminal cannot check the content of the transmittedMMS message. Therefore, due to the user's mistake, another media filethat is not desired to be transmitted may be attached to the MMSmessage, or if the content of the message is created erroneously, theerroneously created MMS message may be transmitted.

In addition, when the MMS message is being transmitted, thetelecommunication terminal displays the current transmission progress ona screen to inform the user of the message's transmission progress, butthe user cannot check the part of the MMS message that is beingcurrently transmitted.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides a method for displaying transmission status of amultimedia messaging service (MMS) message in which the content of acurrently transmitted MMS message is displayed so that a user can checkthe transmission status of the MMS message and the part of the messagecurrently being transmitted, and a telecommunication terminal using themethod.

This invention also provides a method for displaying transmission statusof an MMS message in which the content of a currently transmittedmessage is displayed so that a user can check the part of the messagecurrently being transmitted, and if the MMS message is erroneouslycreated, the transmission of the MMS message can be canceled before thetransmission is completed, and a telecommunication terminal using themethod.

Additional features of the invention will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

This invention discloses a method of displaying an MMS messagetransmission including collecting MMS message construction informationfor the MMS message, transmitting the MMS message, and displaying aportion of data included in the MMS message on a display unit whiletransmitting the MMS message.

This invention also discloses a telecommunication terminal to display amultimedia messaging service (MMS) message transmission status. Thetelecommunication terminal includes a storage unit to store an MMSmessage, a display unit to display content of the MMS message on ascreen while the MMS message is being transmitted, a telecommunicationunit to read the content of the MMS message from the storage unit and totransmit the MMS message, and a controller to collect MMS messageconstruction information upon an instruction to transmit the MMSmessage, and to control the display unit to display currentlytransmitted unit data of the MMS message based on the MMS messageconstruction information.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a telecommunication terminal for displaying an MMSmessage transmission status according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying the MMSmessage transmission status according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of collecting MMS messageconstruction information according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying a messagetransmission status according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C, and FIG. 5D illustrate exemplary screens onwhich MMS message transmission status is displayed according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown.This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure isthorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes oflayers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like referencenumerals in the drawings denote like elements.

Hereinafter, example embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

When a telecommunication terminal according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention transmits an MMS message, the transmissionprogress of the MMS message is displayed and the currently transmittingcontent of the MMS message is displayed.

The telecommunication terminal 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a controller11, a communication unit 13, a storage unit 15, a display unit 17, and akey input unit 19.

The communication unit 13 is driven by the controller 11 to transmit theMMS message. The display unit 17 is driven by the controller 11 todisplay a screen on which the MMS message is created and/or edited by auser, and to display a message transmission status while the MMS messageis transmitting. In addition, the key input unit 19 receives user inputinformation for creating the MMS message and for transmitting the MMSmessage to the controller 11 so that the MMS message transmits. Thestorage unit 15 stores the data generated when the communicationterminal 10 operates in accordance with the control of the controller11. In detail, the storage unit 15 stores the MMS message created by auser and outputs the MMS message to the controller 11 when the MMSmessage is to be transmitted. The controller 11 controls the operationof the telecommunication terminal 10 and controls the creation andtransmission of the MMS message in accordance with the instruction ofthe key input unit 19.

The controller 11 stores the MMS message created by the usermanipulating the key input unit 19 in the storage unit 15 and, if thetransmission of the MMS message is instructed by the key input unit 19,sequentially reads the MMS message stored in the storage unit 15 by theamount of set unit data to transmit the MMS message through thecommunication unit 13. In addition, under control of the controller 11,the transmission progress and the content of the MMS message currentlybeing transmitted by the communication unit 13 are displayed on thedisplay unit 17.

The controller 11 of the telecommunication terminal 10 stores the MMSmessage created by the user in the storage unit 15 and may retain theMMS message in the storage unit 15 after the message is transmitted. TheMMS message created by the user and stored in the storage unit 15 may bedivided into header data, text data, and attached data. For example, theheader data may be in the form of a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)header. In addition, the text data that represents the content of thetext of the message may be in the form of a hypertext markup language(HTML) body. In addition, the attached data added to the MMS message maybe in the form of an attached media file having image information orvideo information. Alternately, in another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, the MMS message may not include text data, in whichcase the MMS message may include only an HTTP header and an attachedmedia file. The remaining description will be for an MMS message thatincludes the HTTP header, the HTML body, and the attached media file.However, it will be understood that the HTML body may not be included ifthe MMS message does not include text data in an HTML body according tothis description without deviating from the present invention.

As described above, the MMS message may be stored in the formatincluding the HTTP header, the HTML body, and the attached media file.When instructed to transmit the MMS message, the controller 11 reads thestored MMS message and sequentially reads the MMS message in the orderof the HTTP header, the HTML body, and the attached media file, by theamount of the set unit data to transmit the MMS message through thecommunication unit 13. Content such as a recipient number, a title, andtransmitting time to the entire bibliographic information of the MMSmessage may be recorded in the HTTP header. Any text to be transmittedin the MMS message may be recorded in the HTML body. The image media andthe text media may be recorded in the attached media file of the MMSmessage.

When the controller 11 is instructed to transmit the MMS message by thekey input unit 19, the controller 11 collects the message constructioninformation of the MMS message stored in the storage unit 15. That is,the controller 11 collects the MMS message construction information fordetermining the amount of data included in each of the HTTP header, theHTML body, and the attached media file. The controller 11 sequentiallyreads the MMS message from the storage unit 15 in the order of the HTTPheader, the HTML body, and the attached media file, by the amount of theset unit data to transmit the MMS message. In addition, the controller11 recognizes the part of the MMS message being currently transmittedfrom among the HTTP header, the HTML body, and the attached media file.The controller 11 does this by recognizing the first portion of data inthe MMS message is associated with the HTTP header, and also hasdetermined the amount of data included in the HTTP header. Thecontroller 11 also recognizes that the second portion of data in the MMSmessage after the HTTP header is associated with the HTML body, and alsohas determined the amount of data included in the HTML body. Thecontroller 11 also recognizes that the third portion of data in the MMSmessage after the HTML body is associated with the media file, and alsohas determined the amount of data included in the media file. Then, thecontroller 11 reads the content of the recognized part of the MMSmessage from the storage unit 15, displays the content of the recognizedpart on the display unit 17, and displays the transmission progress ofthe currently transmitted MMS message on the screen of the display unit17.

If the controller 11 recognizes that the currently transmitted unit datacorresponds to the HTTP header, the controller 11 reads the content ofthe HTTP header from the storage unit 15 and displays the content of theHTTP header on the screen of the display unit 17. If the controller 11recognizes that the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to theHTML body, the controller 11 reads the content of the text recorded inthe HTML body from the storage unit 15 and displays the content of thetext on the screen of the display unit 17. If the controller 11recognizes that the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to theattached media file, the controller 11 reads the content of the attachedmedia file from the storage unit 15 and displays the content of theattached media file on the screen of the display unit 17. As describedabove, if the controller 11 displays the content of the currentlytransmitted MMS message on the screen of the display unit 17, thecontent of the transmitted MMS message is scrolled on the screen of thedisplay unit 17 in the order of the HTTP header, the HTML body, and theattached media file.

In addition, when the controller 11 displays the content of thecurrently transmitted MMS message on the screen while transmitting theMMS message, the transmission progress of the MMS message is displayedon the display unit 17 in the form of a progress bar to regularly orcontinuously display the percentage of the entire MMS message that hasbeen transmitted.

When the telecommunication terminal 10 having the above-describedfunction displays the MMS message transmission status, the processillustrated in FIG. 2 is performed, which will be described hereinafter.FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of displaying the MMSmessage transmission status according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

First, an MMS message is created by the user of the telecommunicationterminal 10, and the MMS message is stored in the storage unit 15 of thetelecommunication terminal 10. If the user instructs the transmission ofthe MMS message by entering a command into the key input unit 19, theMMS message transmission begins. Specifically, the controller 11 of thetelecommunication terminal 10 collects the message constructioninformation of the MMS message stored in the storage unit 15. That is,the controller 11 collects the MMS message construction information forrecognizing how much data is included in each of the HTTP header, theHTML body, and the attached media file of the MMS message (S100).

The controller 11 of the telecommunication terminal 10 sequentiallyreads the MMS message from the storage unit 15 in the order of the HTTPheader, the HTML body, and the attached media file, by the amount of theset unit data to transmit the MMS message using the communication unit13. In addition, the controller 11 recognizes a part of the MMS messagefrom among the HTTP header, the HTML body, and the attached media filethat form the MMS message that is currently being transmitted based onthe MMS message construction information collected in S100. Then, thecontroller 11 reads the content of the recognized part of the MMSmessage from the storage unit 15, displays the content of the recognizedpart on the display unit 17, and displays the transmission progress ofthe currently transmitted MMS message on the screen of the display unit17. The transmission progress of the MMS message is displayed on thescreen of the display unit 17 in the form of the progress bar to displaythe MMS message transmission status (S200).

The process of collecting the MMS message construction informationperformed by the telecommunication terminal 10 in S100 may be performedas illustrated in FIG. 3, which will be described hereinafter. FIG. 3 isa flowchart illustrating a process of collecting MMS messageconstruction information according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

First, the controller 11 of the telecommunication terminal 10 collectsthe HTTP header information of the MMS message stored in the storageunit 15 to determine how much data is included in the HTTP header(S101).

The controller 11 of the telecommunication terminal 10 collects the HTMLbody information of the MMS message stored in the storage unit 15 todetermine how much data is included in the HTML body (S103). Then, thecontroller 11 collects the attached media file information of the MMSmessage stored in the storage unit 15 to determine how much data isincluded in the attached media file (S105).

In addition, the process of displaying the MMS message transmissionstatus performed by the telecommunication terminal 10 in S200 may beperformed as illustrated in FIG. 4, which will be described hereinafter.First, the controller 11 of the telecommunication terminal 10 reads theMMS message from the storage unit 15 by the amount of the set unit datato transmit the MMS message by the communication unit 13. In this case,the MMS message is sequentially read in the order of the HTTP header,the HTML body, and the attached media file that form the MMS message bythe amount of the set unit data to transmit the MMS message (S201).

The controller 11 checks the portion of the MMS message being currentlytransmitted based on the above-described collected MMS messageconstruction information (S203). If the currently transmitted unit datacorresponds to the HTTP header (S205), the header content of thetransmitted part is read from the storage unit 15 and displayed on thedisplay unit 17 (S207). In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, thecontent 110 of the transmitted header is scrolled from the lower end tothe upper end of the screen 100 to be displayed and the transmissionprogress (shown as, for example, 10% in FIG. 5A) is displayed in theform of the progress bar 140.

The controller 11 determines whether the currently transmitted unit datacorresponds to the HTML body if in S205 the currently transmitted unitdata does not correspond to the HTTP header (S209). If the currentlytransmitted unit data corresponds to the HTML body, the controller 11reads the content of the text recorded in the HTML body from the storageunit 15 and displays the text content of the transmitted part on thescreen of the display unit 17 (S211). In this case, as illustrated inFIG. 5B, the content 120 of the transmitted text is scrolled from thelower end to the upper end of the screen 100 after the header 110displayed in S207 to be displayed and the transmission progress (shownas, for example, 15% in FIG. 5B) is displayed in the form of a progressbar 140.

The controller 11 then determines whether the currently transmitted unitdata corresponds to the attached media file if it is determined in S209that the currently transmitted unit data does not correspond to the HTMLbody (S213). If the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to theattached media file, the controller 11 reads the content of the attachedmedia file of the part transmitted from the storage unit 15 and displaysthe content of the attached media file on the screen of the display unit17 (S215). In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5C, the content 130 ofthe transmitted attached media file is scrolled from the lower end tothe upper end of the screen 100 after the text 120 displayed in S211 tobe displayed and the transmission progress (shown as, for example, 55%in FIG. 5C) is displayed in the form of the progress bar 140 (S215).

The controller 11 determines whether the transmission of the MMS messagehas been completed while transmitting the attached media file by thetelecommunication unit 13 (S217). If the transmission of the MMS messageis complete, as illustrated in FIG. 5D, the controller 11 displays thatthe transmission progress is 100% in the form of the progress bar 140 onthe transmission status screen 100 where the content 130 of the attachedmedia file is displayed after the text 120 (S219). On the other hand, ifthe transmission of the MMS message is not complete, the process returnsto S201 to perform the steps of S201 to S217 repeatedly.

In addition, after S207 is performed, the process proceeds to S209 sothat the controller 11 performs an operation. After S211 is performed,the process proceeds to S213 so that the controller 11 performs anoperation. When it is determined in S213 that the currently transmittedunit data does not correspond to the attached media file, the processreturns to S201 so that the controller 11 performs the steps of S201 toS217 repeatedly.

As described above, when the telecommunication terminal transmits theMMS message, the transmission progress of the MMS message is displayedand the content of the currently transmitted MMS message is displayed sothat the user can check which part of the MMS message is transmittedtogether with the transmission progress of the MMS message.

The method for displaying transmission status of an MMS message and thetelecommunication terminal using the method, both as disclosed herein,may be effectively applied to various telecommunication apparatuses fortransmitting the message by telecommunication. When thetelecommunication terminal transmits the MMS message, the transmissionprogress of the MMS message is displayed and the content of thecurrently transmitted message is displayed so that the user can checkwhich part of the current message is transmitted together with thetransmission progress of the MMS message. When the MMS message iscreated erroneously, it is determined that the MMS message iserroneously created by checking the content of the transmitted messagewhile the MMS message is transmitted so that the transmission of the MMSmessage can be cancelled before completing the transmission of the MMSmessage. Therefore, the MMS message with the correct content can betransmitted.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for displaying transmission status of a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, comprising: collecting MMS message construction information for the MMS message; transmitting the MMS message; and displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message on a display unit while transmitting the MMS message.
 2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the MMS message comprises header data including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) header, text data including a hypertext markup language (HTML) body, and attached data including a media file.
 3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein collecting MMS message construction information comprises: collecting HTTP header information for determining how much data is included in the HTTP header; collecting HTML body information for determining how much data is included in the HTML body; and collecting media file information for determining how much data is included in the media file.
 4. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message comprises: determining a currently transmitted unit data of the MMS message while transmitting the MMS message based on the MMS message construction information; if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the HTTP header, reading content of the HTTP header from a storage unit and displaying the content of the HTTP header on the display unit; if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the HTML body, reading text of the HTML body from the storage unit and displaying the text of the HTML body on the display unit; and if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the media file, reading content of the media file from the storage unit and displaying the content of the media file on the display unit.
 5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the MMS message construction information comprises information on a total amount of data included in the MMS message, and wherein an MMS message transmission progress is displayed as a progress bar on the display unit while transmitting the MMS message.
 6. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message comprises displaying currently transmitted data by scrolling in the order of transmission.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: canceling the transmitting the MMS message before the MMS transmission is complete.
 8. A telecommunication terminal to display a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message transmission status, comprising: a storage unit to store an MMS message; a display unit to display content of the MMS message on a screen while the MMS message is being transmitted; a telecommunication unit to read the content of the MMS message from the storage unit and to transmit the MMS message; and a controller to collect MMS message construction information upon an instruction to transmit the MMS message, and to control the display unit to display currently transmitted unit data of the MMS message based on the MMS message construction information.
 9. The telecommunication terminal as set forth in claim 8, wherein the content of the MMS message comprises header data including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) header, text data including an hypertext markup language (HTML) body, and attached data including a media file.
 10. The telecommunication terminal as set forth in claim 8, wherein the controller further controls the display unit to display current transmission progress of the MMS message on the screen while the MMS message is being transmitted.
 11. The telecommunication terminal as set forth in claim 9, wherein the controller controls the display unit to display currently transmitted unit data of the MMS message while the MMS message is transmitted in the order of transmission.
 12. The telecommunication terminal of claim 11, wherein if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the HTTP header, the controller reads content of the HTTP header from the storage unit and the display unit displays the content of the HTTP header on the screen.
 13. The telecommunication terminal of claim 11, wherein if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the HTML body, the controller reads text of the HTML body from the storage unit and the display unit displays the text of the HTML body on the screen.
 14. The telecommunication terminal of claim 11, wherein if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the media file, the controller reads content of the media file from the storage unit and the display unit displays the content of the media file on the screen.
 15. A method for displaying transmission status of a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, comprising: collecting MMS message construction information for the MMS message; transmitting the MMS message; and displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message on a display unit while transmitting the MMS message, wherein the MMS message comprises header data including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) header, and attached data including a media file.
 16. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein collecting MMS message construction information comprises: collecting HTTP header information for determining how much data is included in the HTTP header; and collecting media file information for determining how much data is included in the media file.
 17. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message comprises: determining a currently transmitted unit data of the MMS message while transmitting the MMS message based on the MMS message construction information; and if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the HTTP header, reading content of the HTTP header from a storage unit and displaying the content of the HTTP header on the display unit.
 18. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein displaying a portion of data included in the MMS message comprises: determining a currently transmitted unit data of the MMS message while transmitting the MMS message based on the MMS message construction information; and if the currently transmitted unit data corresponds to the media file, reading content of the media file from a storage unit and displaying the content of the media file on the display unit. 